Police in Hong Kong detained 23 people on Sunday, who had gathered to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Crackdown
Over the weekend, an increased number of police personnel were deployed in the city and several people, including some found with a candle, were stopped for searches and questioning.
Those detained were between the ages of 20 to 74, and were detained on the suspicion of “breaching the peace.”
Prominent activists, such as Chan Po-ying — the leader of the League of Social Democrats — one of the city’s few remaining opposition parties, were also among those detained.
Another famous activist, Alexandra Wong, aka “Grandma Wong,” and Leo Tang, a former leader of the now-disbanded Confederation of Trade Unions, were also detained by police.
34 years ago, today, Tianmen Square, #Beijing #China, the Communist Party killed thousands of peaceful students with machine guns and tanks. Never forget today in China’s dark history. pic.twitter.com/A9vv3ZhgCz
— Bin Xie （解滨）TheGreatTranslationMovement (@bxieus) June 4, 2023
National Security Law
For years, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China has held annual vigils to mark Beijing’s brutal crackdown on “weeks-long, student-led democracy protests.” Commonly referred to as the June Fourth Incident and sometimes as the ’89 Democracy Movement, it led to the death of between 200 and 10,000 people (this range is due to discrepancies between Chinese government and independent sources).
However, since the imposition of China’s draconian National Security Law, Hong Kong police have regularly banned public gatherings around the time of the anniversary.
Taiwan Stands with Hong Kong
Although authorities in China tightened the public’s access to the infamous square in central Beijing, in the self-ruled island of Taiwan, hundreds gathered in Taipei’s Liberty Square to chant “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” on the day of the anniversary.